Heater for motor vehicles



Aug. 18, 1959 E. SYCHOFIELD 2,900,172

HEATER FOR MOTOR VEHICLES Filed March 30, 1956 Earl, L. ScL fie -f United States Patent- HEATER FOR MOTOR VEHICLES Earl L. Schofield, Rockford, 111., assignor to E. L. Schofield, Incorporated, Rockford, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application March 30, 1956, Serial No. 575,172

3 Claims. (Cl. 257-137) be clamped detachably in the main frame or housing of the heater in such a way that there is no danger of any rattle or vibration, although when the clamps are released the service head may be pulled out for servicing and inspection, as when the motor requires oiling if it gets noisy, or when the motor must be removed for rewinding. The advantages of such a removable service head are multiplied where heaters of this novel construction are installed in a fleet of cabs or trucks, because in v suchacase the service department can arrange to have on hand a number of spare heads as standby units and when a heater on any one of the cabs or trucks gets out of order it takes only a few minutes to substitute another head and put the heater back into good working order,

insteadof having to keep the cab or truck laid up in the garage for hours or even days while a new part or parts are being obtained or while the necessary repairs are being made on the heater.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which-- Fig. 1 is a vertical section longitudinally through a heater made in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the heater with the rear portion broken away to conserve space, and showing the service head pulled out for inspection or servicing, and

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3-3 of Fig. l.

The. same reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts throughout these views.

Referring to the drawing, the heater comprises a housing or main frame indicated generally by the reference, numeral 4 having a bottom wall or base portion 5, vertical side walls 6 and '7, and a top 8, all made of sheet metal. The front and back ends of said housing are open, and the service head indicated generally by the reference numeral 9 fits removably in the open front end, on the ledge 10 provided at the front end of the base 5 and under the over-hanging portion 11 at the front. end of the top 8. A hot water radiator core 12 having top and bottom header tanks 13 and 14, to which pipes are connected for circulating hot water or other liquid of the motor vehicles engine cooling system through the core 12, is disposed in the open rear end of the housing. The present heater is designed to fit under a seat and be fastened to the floor by means of the outwardly projecting feet 15 provided on opposite ends of the base 5 of the heater, and. air to be heated is drawn through the core 12 Whenever the fan 16 that is detachably secured on the armature shaft- 17 of an electric motor 18 mounted in and forming a part of the service head 9is turned on by closing a switch in the usual way. Inasmuch as the present invention is particularly concerned with the quickly removable and replaceable service head 9, it is believed there is no need for any further description of the rest of the heater, beyond stating that the heater will be so placed under the seat that the service head 9, when unfastened, may be pulled out. easily, and so that access may be had readily to the levers 19 of the trunk type hasps 20 provided on opposite sides of the heater for detachable connection with cooperating lugs 21 provided on opposite sides of the service head for easy unfastening and fastening of the head: before and after the service head is removed for inspection or servicing. Heaters installed under seats are apt to collect considerable dust and dirt and the removability of the service head on that type of heater is therefore particularly advantageous, because a thorough cleaning job can be done only when the head is removed.

Theservice head 9 comprises a one-piece sheet metal sub-frame 22 bent to provide a vertical back wall 23 and forwardly projecting top and bottom walls 24 and 25, respectively, the vertical back wall 23 serving as a shroud for the fan 16 and having for this purpose a circular hole 26 provided therein in concentric relationship to the fan. A rectangular shroud plate 27 that is fastened by means of screws 28 to the inner side of the back wall 23 of sub-frame 22 also has a circular hole 29-provided therein registering with the hole 26, and this plate 27 has rearwardly bent horizontal flanges 30 at the top and bottom and rearwardly bent vertical flanges 31 on opposite sides thereof to reinforce the plate and lend rigidity tothe back wall 23 of the sub-frame 22, so that there will be no tendency for distortion and consequent likelihood of the tips of the fan blades striking the one or the other of these parts eventually and making objectionablenoise in the operation of the heater, bearing in mindthe .fact that the shroud plate 27 is subject to vibration because it has welded thereto the outer ends of the legs of a spider. 32 that supports the motor 18 and fan 16. A sheetmetal cup-shaped ring 33 is Welded to the inner ends of the legs of the spider 32 and is perforated for the extension of bolts therethrough and has the housing of the motor 18 suitably secured therein, as indicated .at .34.. The ground wire 35 of the motor 18 is grounded to the ring 33 and its other wire 36 has a plug-in termi nal 37 on the end thereof which is insertable in a plug receptacle 38" provided on the inner end of a wire 39 that leads from the heater to a control switch. When the service head has been pulled out the terminal 37 is removed from the receptacle 38, as it appears in Fig. 2, and the service head is completely divorced from the heater and may then be taken to a work bench for inspection and servicing and another standby head may be substituted for it in the heater.

The parallel top and bottom walls 24 and 25 of the sub-frame 22 provide large area surface to surface bearing, contact on the ledge 10 and under the overhanging portion. 11 for rigid support of the service head in the heater. These top and bottom walls have the upper and lower ends of four vertical bafile plates 40 welded thereto by means. of right angle bent end portions 41, so that theload of the motor 18 and its supporting, spider 32 is to some extent also assumed by these bafile plates, because thisloading tends to distort the subframe 22 and these bafile plates brace the walls 24 and 25 to hold replacement of the service head and in the handling of the service head when removed from the heater. As seen in Fig. 3, two of the baffle plates on one side of center with respect to the fan 16 are parallel to one another and inclined toward the right so as to deflect some of the heated air in that direction. The other two bafile plates are also parallel to one another but are oppositely inclined to deflect some of the heated air toward the left, the rest of the heated air passing between the bai'lle plates being thrown directly forwardly from the heater.

A generally U-shaped fan guard structure 42 is disposed in front of the baffle plates 40 with the cross-portion of the U parallel to the shroud plate 27 and back Wall 23 of the sub-frame 22 and with the two arms of the U extending rearwardly toward the back wall 23. The fan guard structure 42 is made up of a plurality of horizontally disposed U-shaped wires 43 and a plurality of straight vertical wires 44 welded to the crossportions of the U-shaped wires 43, and two vertical sheet metal strips 44 bent to right angle form in cross-section having the ends of the arms of the U-shaped wires 43 welded to the iner side of one flange 45, the other flange 46 being welded to the front of the back wall 23 of the sub-frame 22. It is clear, therefore, that the fan guard structure also contributes sizeably to the strength and rigidity of the sub-frarne 22. The lugs 21 previously mentioned for cooperation with the trunk type hasp 2d for clamping the service head in place in the heater are suitably welded to the outer side of the flanges 45.

Vertical strips 47 of sponge rubber are preferably cemented to the back of the back wall 23 of the subframe 22 at its opposite sides for compression between the service head 9 and the vertical front edges 48 of the side walls 6 and 7 of housing 4 when the trunk type snap fasteners 249 are fastened, whereby to maintain the snap fasteners under the equivalent of spring pressure to reduce likelihood of accidental release and also eliminate likelihood of rattle and vibration, which would be more or less unavoidable with metal to metal contact.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claims have been drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

I claim:

1. In a heat exchange unit of the class described comprising a housing of generally rectangular straight tubular form having opposed parallel vertical side walls in fixed relationship and parallel top and bottom walls, the housings front end being open and likewise the rear end, and a heat exchange radiator mounted vertically in one open end thereof, the top and bottom walls of said housing extending outwardly in parallel relationship to one another from the other end of said housing, the improvernent which consists in the provision of a quickly removable and replaceable service head closing the end of said housing remote from said radiator, said head comprising a vertical frame of one-piece sheet metal construction bent to define a vertical wall and horizontal top and bottom walls extending therefrom in one direction, said frame being removably secured in said housing with its vertical wall in abutment with the ends of the side walls of said housing and with its top and bottom walls exending outwardly from the vertical wall and disposed in wide area surface to surface abutment with the inner sides of said outwardly extending end portions of the top and bottom walls of said housing for rigid support of said vertical frame in said housing, vertically disposed, fixed air deflecting bafile plates mounted in said vertical frame between said top and bottom walls and having their upper and lower ends rigidly connected to said walls whereby to lend greater rigidity to said frame, said frame having an air discharge opening provided in the vertical wall thereof, a rotary fan disposed behind said baflie plates in a vertical plane in said opening and rotatable therein with small operating clearance for drawing air horizontally through the radiator for discharge through said opening, a vertical shroud plate rigidly secured to and reinforcing the vertical wall of said frame on the inner side thereof in the plane of said fan, said shroud plate having a substantially circular opening provided therein in register with the air discharge opening provided in said vertical wall, a motor having an armature shaft on a horizontal axis connected to and driving said fan, and a spider rigidly secured to the inner side of said shroud plate and carrying a perforated ring at the center thereof in concentric relation to the circular opening in the shroud plate, the motor having one end thereof detachably secured in the perforations in said ring with its armature shaft and the fan detachably secured thereon centrally arranged in said circular opening, whereby said motor and fan are supported on said shroud plate inside said housing between the radiator and baffle plates and the motor and fan and readily removable from the rest of the assembly.

2. In a heat exchange unit comprising a housing of generally rectangular form having opposed vertical side walls in fixed parallel relationship and top and bottom horizontal walls in fixed parallel relationship, said top and bottom walls extending outwardly in parallel relationship to one another relative to the end of the vertical walls, a quickly removable and replaceable service head disposed between the outwardly extending top and bottom Walls and closing the end of said housing, said housing comprising a generally U-shaped frame defining a transverse vertical wall abutting the ends of said side walls, and horizontal top and bottom walls extending outwardly from said transverse vertical wall and disposed in abutment with the outwardly extending end portions of the top and bottom walls of said housing, vertically disposed air deflecting baffle plates mounted in said frame between said top and bottom walls in spaced relation to the transverse vertical wall, said transverse vertical wall having a circular opening provided therein, a rotary fan disposed behind said baflle plates and rotatable in said circular opening with small operating clearance, a motor having an armature shaft on which said fan is detachably secured, and a spider rigidly secured to the inner side of said transverse vertical wall and carrying a perforated ring at the center thereof in concentric relation to said circular opening, the motor having one end thereof detachably secured .in the perforations in said ring with its armature shaft and fan centrally arranged in said circular opening.

3. A motor driven fan unit comprising a generally U-shaped frame defining a vertical wall and horizontal top and bottom walls extending therefrom in one direction, vertically disposed air deflecting baffle plates mounted in said frame between said top and bottom walls in parallel spaced relationship to said vertical wall, a generally U-shaped fan guard structure disposed between the horizontal top and bottom walls in spaced relationship to and enclosing said baffle plates with the ends of the arms of the U secured to the vertical wall, said vertical wall having a circular opening provided therein, a rotary fan disposed behind said baflie plates and I0- tatable in said circular opening with small operating clearance, a motor having an armature shaft on which said fan is detachably secured, and a spider rigidly secured to the inner side of said vertical wall and carrying a perforated ring at the center thereof in concentric relation to said circular opening, the motor having one end thereof detachably secured in the perforations in said ring with its armature shaft and fan centrally arranged jn said circular opening.

(References on following page) References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Tripp May 1, 1900 Dieterich Oct. 30, 1917 5 Frank Feb. 25, 1919 Modine May 26, 1931 Smith Feb. 16, 1937 6 Frie Feb. 5, 1952 Shapiro Apr. 29', 1952 Schofield et a1. Dec. 30, 1952 Wile Apr. 7, 1953 Bergstrom Jan. 11, 1955 Palmer June 14, 1955 Se Bastian Aug. 16, 1955 Burrowes et a1. Jan. 1, 1957 

